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“A healthy, delicious lunch can lift your mood, fuel you through the afternoon, and increase your overall well-being,” says Heidi Swanson, a two-time James Beard Award winner and the author of the best-selling cookbook Super Natural Simple (Buy It, $15, amazon.com). “Level up yours by boosting the flavor with dressings, drizzles, and crunchy toppings that also lend a nutritional punch and color. Bright salads, soups, and bowls tend to be packed with vitamins and minerals. Plus, they’re beautiful to sit down to.”
Here, Swanson shares her expert-but-easy tips to create a vegetarian lunch that's full of flavor and exciting textures. (
3. Try These Creative Combos
The ideal vegetarian lunch has a grain, noodle, or salad base; vegetables; plant-based protein, like beans, lentils, or marinated tofu; crunch from nuts or seeds; and a dressing or drizzle to bring it all together, says Swanson. Use this formula to whip up your own concoctions, or make one of her go-tos.
